MONTERO SPEAKS ABOUT FULHAM
A few days ago it was reported that Fulham of the English Premier League was interested the Seattle Sounder’s 21 year old leading goal scorer, Fredy Montero. The Sun has reported that the young Colombian was in touch with Fulham six months ago and has recently been contacted by club once again. According to Montero’s comments, not only would the player welcome a move to Fulham and the Premier League, but he believes that the Sounders will not get in his way.
Here are the comments Montero made:
“I was in touch with Fulham officials around six months ago and now they have been in touch with me again.
“I find the idea of playing for their team in the next season interesting.
“I haven’t spoken about this situation with the officials of Seattle yet but I suppose that once they receive a proposal there will not be any problem.
“Because I am interested in the chance of playing in their league.”
Seattle coach Sigi Schmid has stated that he does not know of any official approach by Fulham for the player. Coach Schmid did have this to say about the possibility of Montero leaving the club:
Post match quotes from the friendly against Chelsea:
“From my perspective as a coach, you don’t want to lose players for sure, but the way I was taught early on was the measure of a coach was how many players can you produce for the next level, not how many titles can you win. Any time a player gets an opportunity to play at a higher level, myself and this club is never going to stand in the way. We’re going to help advise and make sure it’s the right opportunity. It also says worlds about what we’re doing if guys are getting the chance to move to the next level. Then we have to find the next guy and help him get to that level. Right now we’re focused on our team and we want to be successful.”
I think that is a great attitude to have for a league and a team at this level. Maybe at the highest level (Premier League, Spanish League, etc) titles become more important than player development. The US is still trying to develop world class talent. Although I do not believe Sigi is the guy who is going to do it, Sigi does have the right mentality that will only facilitate the growth of American soccer.
What do you think about Montero possibly leaving MLS after this season? Do you think Fulham is a good destination for the young Colombian? How much influence do you think Kasey Keller (former Fulham player and Seattle goalkeeper) is going to have in these developments?